Following a busy 48 hours for Essendon, Interim Senior Coach Dean Solomon fronted the media for the first time in his new role on Thursday morning.

Solomon was steadfast in his focus on bringing the Club together throughout a ‘crucial’ period of time, citing connection as a major part of his philosophy going forward. 

The former Premiership Don also batted away any speculation over future ambitions and next year’s coaching vacancy, reiterating that his sole intent was to wrap his arms around the wider organisation and finish the season with momentum.

Solomon on… initial emotions

Firstly, I feel a huge amount of empathy for Brad and his family, and the people within our footy club. It's never a nice moment when this occurs, it's a challenging time for everyone and now we have to try and move on.

Our thoughts are with Brad and his family. As of Tuesday morning, I was walking in here, driving in as an assistant coach to Brad, and it's quickly changed.

Solomon on… what lies ahead in 2026

The landscape of the footy world turns quickly, and I find myself an interim coach - I'm here to represent our players and our staff, and ensure that we get to the finishing line with momentum.  

It’s certainly a challenging time for them, especially our young group. So I've been tasked with the role to navigate that, and that's something I'm very grateful for, but I'm doing it with all the people, other coaches, staff members, we're going to do this together and drive strongly to the line.

It's critically important we finish the season with momentum.  

Solomon on… his future 

I won't even consider that (Senior Coaching prospect) while I'm doing this job, I think it's really the wrong thing to do to even entertain any thought around that. 

I've got to knuckle down. My last 48 hours has been chaos and I don't have any place to take on that type of thought at the moment. So that's where I sit for the rest of the season. 

The responsibility I've got right now, the workload, my heart is with these players and staff. If I'm thinking about something else that's about me, potentially about me, it's just a wrong thing to do. 

I just won’t entertain (the thought).

Solomon on… the context around taking the interim position

(Was I consulted about Brad’s departure?) Not at all. (Did I see myself taking on this role?) Not at all. 

I just spoke to the whole Club (this morning), and just in talking about my last 12 months - I mean, in late November last year, we lost Daniel Giansiracusa to Hawthorn and we were trying to find an experienced senior coach. 

Never in my dreams I thought I’d have this position, so it is what it is right now, and I just have to look forward, get my arms around and protect these players and these staff members, and as I said, hit the finishing line with momentum this year.

Solomon on… touchpoints for the players 

There's a couple of things in focus. It's just our connection, making sure we stay together here.

It’s a ‘fork in the road’ moment - we can fracture and fall away, and this feels heavy right now, but it can feel 15 times heavier if we do that.

Or we come in here, we connect, and we drive strongly to the finish line. That'd be our major focus. We've spoken around some standards we've identified that we can tidy up, a bit of spirit and passion about the way we try and play for each other, for the jumper, and for the club. 

It hit them really hard, I won't lie. On Tuesday afternoon, it was a thick environment in there, but as of this morning, they've sort of dusted themselves off, and it seems the fog is lifting a little bit. 

Solomon on… his previous experience as an interim coach 

Quickly reflecting on that time, I think it's a real balance here on how much you change or try and tweak.

If you try and change or tweak too much, it can fall flat on its face. So the balance of that is really consuming for the last 48 hours on what we do tweak and change, how much, how little.

I feel like we’ve landed in a good spot - in consultation with the other coaches, I feel like we’re in a good spot.  

Solomon on.. structure, his working relationship with Brad Scott

It’s the same group, Michael Hurley will come up from the VFL and join us as defensive coach, replacing my role. Gary Rohan will also step up from the VFL more as well. 

‘Hurls’ obviously has a great amount of experience as a defender, as a player, and he's going to be very good coach as well, so it's great exposure for him. 

(That report around my relationship with Brad wasn’t accurate) at all, not one bit. I get on really, really well with Brad.

I’ve always respected him as a player, as a coach, what he’s been able to achieve, what I've learned from him in the last 8 months, him embracing me as an assistant coach to support him.

Solomon on… player morale

(There’s no player frustration) that I've been privy to, been aware of in person or heard of. There's nothing this morning to suggest that's the case. 

If anything, I felt the vibe was pretty good this morning, so there's nothing I can speak to that I've been involved in around that space, or the club being confused about direction. 

Solomon on… James Hird, ‘Essendon people’

What I think about (James), I love the fact that he feels he's in a position to coach again. 

On a personal level, I'm glad that's the case. Whether that's the case, whether that happens or not, I'm not part of any of those discussions. 

Again, with the last 48 hours, (the next Senior Coach is) the last thing I've probably been thinking about. The people at Board level will get together, they'll break it all down, what they feel is best for this football club working forward - what does it look like, who does it look like - but again, I won’t be any part of it. 

No, you don't have to be an Essendon person to coach Essendon. There's so many examples of both ways, right? There are people who played with the club and coached the club, there are people who haven't played and coached the club. There are a lot of success stories. 

You don't have to be an Essendon person to coach this club.

I haven't even thought about becoming a Senior Coach since I’ve come back here. My heart sits with this football club. It's the reason I got the car and drove back down at that point in time, I wanted to support Brad, the players and the staff, and the strategy we're on. 

I haven't even considered being a senior coach, and I won't consider that.

Solomon on… West Coast

I think it's a great opportunity. Absolutely. We jump on a plane together, we spoke that this morning, we can get over there, connect, enjoy each other's company, and we're going to confront a side that's in reasonable form. 

The last three weeks, they’ve been pretty impressive West Coast. They’re building nicely, so we know what's coming, we know what we're going to walk into, but it is a great opportunity to see what we can do. 

Yeah, (both Jye Caldwell and Archie May are a chance to play). We've got to get through training today but they're both in contention right now. 

Solomon on… the all-of-club breakfast

The line was that big, I couldn’t get in. 

It was important to bring everyone together. These times are tough, right? Whether you're a coach, a player, admin staff on level three, everyone's got their own thoughts and feelings about it. We come together, we spend a bit of time together.

It's a core belief in my coaching philosophy, connection to people and connecting people is what I do.